Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-11-15

The papers all oyer the country of late
have contained accounts OF the attempts
of Phil Armour. the Chicago meat packer.
to control the beef trade in many of the
middle sized, and larger cities The cities
of Davenport, Rock Island and Moline
have now become the subject of Ar.
mour's attack. Last week two agents
came to the tri cities soliciting orders for
meat. agreeing to furnish it from Kansas
City, placing it here at three-and -s-haif
cents per pound. Only few local
dealers gave them orders, however. all
the Others declaring they would never
order pound of meat from Armour.
Yesterday morning car containing five
thousand pounds of beef was brought to
Davenport and side,tracked for the pur>
pose of selling the meat at wholesale,
The orders given last week were supplied
but the buyers notified the agent that
they would buy no more meat from him.
So the agent proposes to open meat
market here, and control the trade by
selling at prices that will draw customers
from the other butchers. The object is.
of course. to get a portion of the trade.
The local butchers propose to resist Ar
mour's object to the utmost. They want
the cattle raisers in the county to help
them. Of course it is for the interest OF
breeders to do this. The butchers pay
two-and>a half cents at the farms. II
Armour accomplishes his object, the loca
trade in cattle will be greatly damaged
if not utterly wiped cut, except for ship.
ment east, and prices will drop to unre'
munerative figures.
The butchers of the three cities, it |.
| understood, will ask the councils of tn,
cities of Davenport, Rock Island an(
Moline. respectively, to adopt measure
which will circumvent Phil. Armour
The butchers desire the passage of ordi,
nsnces for the inspection of cattle bough
for slaughter before killing, and prohib'
| iting the sale of meat not thus inspected
They say that nobody can tell whethe
the meat that Armour proposes to plac
| on the market is from diseased cattle o
not. The cattle are killed in Kansa
City, and are not subjected to inspection
The Davenport Democrat. Gazette says
las health measure, as a protectio
for the people, such an ordinance woul
be valid, of course. Such an ordinanc
was passed by the city council in Roc
Island year ago. when an abaLtOir wa
established but the butchers com biued /
render it void, and the ahattoir useles
expense.
How such an ordinance would be re
ceived in Davenport and Moline, Il
ARGUS is not prepared to say. 1t is Ger
tain. however. that the Rock Islam
butchers should have the cheek to see
the adoption of such protective meas
ures from the city here. They who hav
not only banded themselves together
oppose the proper municipal regulation
their business, but to prevent the ado,
ton of sanitary precautions looking
the welfare of the entire people simply b,
cause their individual. selfish interes
we're not provided for. cannot consisten
ly come to the city for protection nov
1t is probable that under the foreshados
ing circumstances, those Of the butche
of Rock Island who have preferred
compel their patrons to eat meat slsug
tered in pen where there is no inspe
ton, to nicely kept and W
regulated slaughter house, would be We
willing to come in and shout for inspf
ton now But they can't do it. T
matter is in the courts; it is undecide
There is no inspection law III Rock l
and; no requirements as to the sla1ght
of cattle, and the city cannot be expe
ed to impose upon outsiders regu
tons, which the local dealers are q
subjected to. The Rock Island butch'
may learn in the course of human evel
that subjectIon to the city's inspect
was not such woeful hardship after
We cannot ask protection of that VIII
we seek to strike down.